Description

Jérôme Descamps was playing the trombone in symphony orchestras in France when he was invited to teach at the Conservatoire artistique de Polynésie française in Papeete. That was in 1999. He was due to stay there for a year before returning to France. But fate had other plans… So Jérôme still lives in Tahiti today. It was there that he recorded ‘Tahitian Postcards’, a solo trombone project infused with the sounds of nature. The result is a contemplative blend of improvised and contemporary music, mixing free jazz with the songs of birds, crickets, tropical rain and the ocean. As well as the sounds of distorted pianos.

Jérôme smiles and explains: “These are musical soundscapes from my daily life in Mahina, which, unwittingly, perpetuate the myth of a sunny, carefree, peaceful paradise…”

His five compositions are accompanied by some thirty photographs taken by his son Gaston. “Gaston’s perspectives on the island where he grew up and which he returns to after a long absence.”

The physical product is a photo book (photographs by Gaston Descamps) accompanied by a CD, published by Compagnie 4000 (France) in collaboration with ZenneZ Records (Netherlands)